Tag: Drug Policies

The End Is Simple

Keeping with the drug meme for today…..

Since 1971 the USA has been fighting a war of drugs and has spent an estimated $1 trillion on that fight and yet there has been no evidence that all the cash spent is winning the war or even making a dent.

Since about 1990 I have been writing that if we are serious about this then put an end to the profit margins for drug dealers and legalize.

I know this will offend the sensibilities of some but they will get over it.

I have not been alone in this call over the years and it has arisen again thanx to the attack on all those small narco boats…..

This is another opinion on the legalization thing…..

I was never that into cocaine — preferring the euphoria promised by MDMA or the relaxation offered by cannabis — but back in 2015, a cocaine-serving lounge bar, Route 36, in La Paz, Bolivia, was the talk of the backpacking circuit, and the scarcely-believable novelty of the place was alluring.

At Route 36, bags of cocaine are served on silver platters, and a friend and I got incredibly high that night. Too high, perhaps, though it was all undeniably good fun. But as soon as my first-person dispatch for Vice from the lively dusk-till-dawn session went viral, I feared that I perhaps shouldn’t have glorified the use of a moreish drug that typically leaves a trail of violent destruction in its wake.

As the years passed, however — with cocaine becoming both unprecedentedly popular and increasingly affordable despite the billions spent on the war on drugs to avoid these exact outcomes — I’ve come to realize that accepting that adults take cocaine, and legally regulating the drug, is the only sensible path forward. Establishments like Route 36, the world’s first cocaine bar, might just represent a more enlightened, peaceful future for us all.

After all, U.S.-led authorities around the world have tried everything else, and to great human cost. Coca fields across the Andes, where cocaine’s main ingredient grows, have been sprayed with harmful herbicides like glyphosate, harming the local Indigenous people for whom coca holds unique spiritual and nutritional value, and killing anything that tries to grow in the contaminated soil. Consumers and traffickers of cocaine have been imprisoned en masse, helping to create a prison–industrial complex which serves as a university of crime for its incarcerated and a fertile recruitment ground for armed drug gangs.

Legalizing Cocaine Is the Only Way to End the Drug War

This is the only way we can ‘win’ the war on drugs…..for we have had 50+ years of failed policies and wasted money.

Do the country a favor and end this war and get back to make the well-being of people of this country a priority.

Enjoy your Cyber Monday and be vigil.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Americans Love Drugs

Our 50 year war on drugs has been expanded by Donny in his less than genius thinking.

The war on drugs, sometimes referred to in the 21st century as the war on cartels in contexts of military intervention and counterterrorism, is a global anti-narcotics campaign led by the United States federal government, including drug prohibition and foreign assistance, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the US.  The initiative’s efforts includes policies intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of psychoactive drugs that the participating governments, through United Nations treaties, have made illegal.

The term “war on drugs” was popularized by the media after a press conference, given on June 17, 1971, during which President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one”.  Earlier that day, Nixon had presented a special message to the US Congress on “Drug Abuse Prevention and Control”, which included text about devoting more federal resources to the “prevention of new addicts, and the rehabilitation of those who are addicted”; that aspect did not receive the same media attention as the term “war on drugs”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs

Let’s be honest…..yes there have been some amazing seizures and busts over those 50 years…..but the problem is all the money spent and the arrests and such and drugs are still popular…..and no matter the actions, policies, and BS the drugs keep flowing…..and Donny brilliant idea of killing drug runners is not going to change anything.

The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “America Loves Cocaine Again—Mexico’s New Drug King Cashes In.” It’s a detailed account of the return of cocaine amid a recent drop in fentanyl use by Americans. “Cocaine sold in the U.S. is cheaper and as pure as ever for retail buyers,” according to the article. The drug has seen a 154 percent increase in consumption since 2019.

For a variety of reasons, the U.S. is the most significant illicit drug market in the world, with the most drug users. Though 45 percent of Americans describe the problem of drugs in the U.S. as “extremely serious,” drug use is a growing trend. About 25 percent of Americans reported past-year use of “illicit drugs” in 2024—an increase of three percentage points since 2021—according to the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Many Americans have gone from tolerance of psychoactive drug use to active participation at scale, and demand is edging up. However, public drug use and the rise in fentanyl overdoses in cities such as Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, and Baltimore have spurred public outcry. Given that the country’s annual drug overdose death rate doubled between 2015 and 2023, it makes sense that 52 percent of Americans feel the U.S. is “losing ground on the illegal drug problem,” according to a Gallup poll.

https://reason.com/2025/09/19/americans-like-drugs-killing-drug-traffickers-wont-change-that/

One minor thought of drug smuggling….

Out of 12,004 nationwide drug trafficking convictions, 78 percent (9,362) involved U.S. citizens, according to the Cato Institute. The trend remains even in regions along the Southwest border, typically seen as cartel havens, where U.S. citizens account for nearly 72 percent of drug trafficking convictions. Similarly, in the Gulf of Mexico and districts along the Caribbean, U.S. citizens account for 68 percent of convicted drug traffickers.

So you see all this chest thumping over some accused drug smuggling is nothing more that an idiot attempting to look engaged.

We Americans love our drugs….get over it!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

News On Your Daily Medications

The older we get it seems the more pills and such that we must consume to protect our health….that is a sore spot because drug companies are raising prices and playing with the distribution of said drugs and now we have a leader that does not give a screaming turd about our struggles to pay for these necessities for good health…..

The United States, despite being the richest country in the world and a biopharmaceutical powerhouse, has long struggled with drug shortages. At any given time, up to 100 or more — sometimes many more — drugs are not readily available to American patients, largely because drug manufacturing operates with very little slack that leaves it vulnerable to disruptions. Sometimes, these are specialty drugs for, say, cancer patients who have certain genetics — potentially devastating for those individuals. Other times, as with the recent ADHD medication shortages, it can involve widely prescribed drugs with health impacts that can affect millions of people.

There are moments when these shortages can’t be helped. As I wrote in 2022, the pandemic’s supply chain disruption was the kind of natural emergency that creates unavoidable, acute drug shortages. Americans found it harder to find drugs like Tamiflu or inhalers with albuterol because the manufacturers were having a harder time getting their hands on the raw ingredients for those medicines, which can come from all over the world.

Drug shortages are usually accidental. A pandemic. A factory machine needs repair. Ingredients become tainted. But this time, it would be engineered.

The potential for disruption is enormous: China, which this week has been hit with a 10 percent across-the-board tariff, is the largest supplier of drug or drug ingredients to the US. Pharmaceutical drugs and their components are still the single largest American import from around the world, as longtime health care journalist Merrill Goozner wrote on Monday.

Generic drugmakers, which produce 90 percent of the prescription drugs in the US and often depend on Chinese chemical imports, don’t have easy recourse. It will be difficult for them to raise prices to make up for the additional tariff costs — there’s a good reason for that, but it has the potential to fuel shortages with a trade war afoot.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/398161/trump-tariffs-china-prescripton-drugs-medicine-shortage

I guess we should start worrying about the availability of our meds in the near future.

Then there is the uncertainty of the Trump admin actually helping us out with lowering prices of these drugs….think again….this op-ed looks at the possibility….

You’d think that President Donald Trump would have shown a little more empathy to senior citizens. He ties the record for being the oldest candidate elected to the Oval Office — with former President Joe Biden of all people. He’ll be an octogenarian by the time he leaves office, so you may be of the opinion that he’d look out for his elderly peers.

Apparently, not.

Medicare recipients, and the families working hard to support them, just aren’t Trump’s people.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order overturning the two-year effort to give Medicare recipients access to more than 100 drugs for $2 a month. The Medicare $2 Drug List Model included generic drugs for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and other common ailments many elderly face. No matter. With a swipe of a pen, Trump ended the program to, in his words, ” … to deliver emergency price relief.” Go figure.

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/opinion/editorials/2025/02/07/trump-cuts-medicare-lower-prescription-drug-costs/78199521007/

Speaking of tariffs…..

Your local pharmacy might be the next front in Donald Trump’s trade war.

The president has in recent weeks promised to impose tariffs on all foreign-made medications, a move intended to encourage drug companies to return more of their manufacturing to the US.

In the meantime, the healthcare industry is already bracing itself for the president’s new 10% levy on goods from China, where much of the globe’s pharmaceutical production is based. Drugmakers and hospitals have said they could increase costs, push some generics into short supply, and hurt Americans’ access to treatments, including cancer and heart medicines.

Independent healthcare and trade experts told Yahoo Finance that, even though there are good policy reasons to encourage more US pharma manufacturing, they believed the tariffs could backfire. Slapping taxes on pills made in other countries might push prices higher without making it worthwhile to bring back many factories, they warned. Worse, it could exacerbate already chronic shortages of generic drugs by driving some companies out of the market entirely.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-to-put-tariffs-on-prescription-drugs-experts-warn-it-could-backfire-131058249.html

So be prepared for your health costs is about to become more expensive and will remain so until someone in DC cares about you…..if ever….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–04Feb22

Yipee skippy! Mississippi finally enters the 21st century….well at least on the weed front.

A pretty good start…..

Mississippi is legalizing medical marijuana for people with debilitating conditions such as cancer, AIDS, and sickle cell disease, the AP reports. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed the legislation Wednesday and it became law immediately. It could be months before the first marijuana dispensaries open. “There is no doubt that there are individuals in our state who could do significantly better if they had access to medically prescribed doses of cannabis,” Reeves wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. “There are also those who really want a recreational marijuana program that could lead to more people smoking and less people working, with all the societal and family ills that that brings.”

The National Conference of State Legislatures says 36 states and four territories already allowed the medical use of cannabis. Mississippi becomes the 37th state. “For all the people who are touched in some way by a loved one or someone they know who benefits from medical cannabis, this brings their quality of life back,” said Ken Newburger, executive director the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association, a group that pushed for legalization. A majority of Mississippi voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in November 2020, and it would have allowed people to buy up to 5 ounces a month. The state Supreme Court invalidated it six months later by ruling that the state’s initiative process was outdated and the measure was not put properly on the ballot.

The state House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans, passed the final version of Senate Bill 2095 last week. The new law will allow patients to buy up to to 3.5 grams of cannabis per day, up to six days a week. That is about 3 ounces per month. It sets taxes on production and sale of cannabis, and it specifies that plants must be grown indoors under controlled conditions. Reeves said because of the reduction from 5 ounces a month in the initiative to 3 ounces a month in the new law, “there will be hundreds of millions of fewer joints on the streets because of this improvement.” The new law prohibits the state from providing economic development incentives for the cannabis industry, and it gives cities and counties 90 days to opt out of allowing medical marijuana facilities, for growing or selling.

I am sure the demonizing will soon begin.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–08Dec20

Just last week the US House of Representatives made history by voting to decriminalize marijuana…..the fad has gone federal…….for many states have legalized or at least decriminalized weed.

Now the federal reps have stepped into the 21st century….and a cheer went up for their forward thinking….

Reflecting changing attitudes among Americans, the House voted Friday to decriminalize marijuana. The measure, approved with support from both parties on a 228-164 vote, also would expunge nonviolent convictions related to marijuana offenses, the New York Times reports. And the drug would no longer be covered by the Controlled Substances Act. It’s the first time either chamber of Congress has voted to decriminalize pot, and Politico sees it as a “monumental step in marijuana policy.” However, the measure isn’t expected to go anywhere in the Senate anytime soon. Still, approval gives lawmakers something to build on in the future. “What we’re doing here is … recognizing that there is a longtime war on civil rights that was instituted by the Nixon administration,” says Rep. Jerry Nadler, sponsor of the bill. “And we’re eliminating it.”

 
 

House Makes Landmark Move on Marijuana

Votes for first time to decriminalize, though it’s not going anywhere in the Senate
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 4, 2020 2:18 PM CST
 
Shrink
 
Marijuana grows at an indoor cannabis farm in Gardena, Calif., last year.   (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
 
 

(Newser) – Reflecting changing attitudes among Americans, the House voted Friday to decriminalize marijuana. The measure, approved with support from both parties on a 228-164 vote, also would expunge nonviolent convictions related to marijuana offenses, the New York Times reports. And the drug would no longer be covered by the Controlled Substances Act. It’s the first time either chamber of Congress has voted to decriminalize pot, and Politico sees it as a “monumental step in marijuana policy.” However, the measure isn’t expected to go anywhere in the Senate anytime soon. Still, approval gives lawmakers something to build on in the future. “What we’re doing here is … recognizing that there is a longtime war on civil rights that was instituted by the Nixon administration,” says Rep. Jerry Nadler, sponsor of the bill. “And we’re eliminating it.”

Low-income communities of color have been hurt most by laws and policies intended to reduce the use of marijuana and other drugs, and the measure authorizes a 5% tax on marijuana that could be levied to help those communities and their small businesses, through grant programs. Rep. Jim McGovern says that when he’s asked what systemic racism is, he cites the drug laws. “People’s lives have been ruined—have been destroyed—by possessing just a small amount of cannabis.” Recreational cannabis now is legal in 15 states, and medical marijuana in 35. The ACLU found this year that though Black and white Americans use marijuana at about the same rates, Black people are four times as likely to be arrested for pot possession as white people.

Not so fast!

Sounds good coming from the House…but it will be a lead turd in the Senate…..

Analysis:  NOTHING HAS CHANGED!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Atta Boys!

This post is for those people that show up only occasionally when I write something derogatory about Herr Trump…..actually I have written several times about some of the policies that Trump is embracing that I would approve of….but that does not get the slower out there to show up.

I have agreed with Trump on some of his foreign policy issues….like bringing our troops home….and just the other day I saw another issue that I would give him an “atta boy”…..drug prices.

President Trump is reportedly set to sign an executive order Friday to reduce prescription-drug costs.

The president’s election-year effort was first reported by The Hill newspaper, which obtained an invitation sent to some GOP lawmakers for a 3 p.m. White House event on drug pricing. 

The exact details of the executive order remain unclear. But sources told the newspaper that it could include a version of an existing proposal to lower the price of some U.S. drugs by connecting them to lower prices paid in other countries.

https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/trump-likely-sign-executive-order-lower-prescription-drug-costs-us

Please I have NO illusion that this is just a way to gain a little support when poll numbers ware waning……but if it saves me money on my drugs then he has my thanks.

And yet another “atta boy” for Trump……

We all know that Trump is a voracious Twitter user, right?

And I have often asked myself he actually knows what he is Tweeting…..well I have an answer to my rhetorical question.

President Trump acknowledged in an interview released Friday that he “often” regrets his tweets and retweets.

“It used to be in the old days before this, you’d write a letter and you’d say, ‘this letter is really bad,’ you put it on your desk and you go back tomorrow and you say, ‘oh, I’m glad I didn’t send it,’” Trump told Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy.

“But we don’t do that with Twitter. We put it out instantaneously, we feel great, and then you start getting phone calls, ‘Did you really say this?’ I say, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ And you find a lot of things,” continued the president, who is often the subject of criticism over his use of his Twitter account. “You know what I find? It’s not the tweets, it’s the retweets that get you in trouble.”

Trump went on to say he doesn’t always look closely at the tweets that he shares from his Twitter account, which has 84 million followers.

He had similarly said that some of his tweets create problems for the White House in an interview last year.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/508947-trump-says-he-often-regrets-his-tweets-and-retweets

My question is if you realize that some of your Tweets are not good at all….why continue to do it?

Is it an addiction that he cannot break?

Just Wondering!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

I Agree With Trump!

I know some of my more conservative readers will be reading this and having to sit down…..the old professor likes something Trump is doing?

Well yes I do….but there a several things that I approve of from the Trump admin……like bring troops home and a better infrastructure……so far neither of those have come to the forefront….only in rhetoric not reality.

As an old retired fart that depends on Medicare for his drugs and care I am always bitching about the price of my drugs….especially my insulin and pain meds…..

It appears that our president is going to do something about the high costs of prescribed medicine…..

The Trump administration said Wednesday it will set up a system to allow Americans to legally import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, weakening a long-standing ban that had stood as a top priority for the politically powerful pharmaceutical industry. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Wednesday morning, the AP reports. Previous administrations had sided with the industry on importation, echoing its concerns that it could expose patients to risks from counterfeit or substandard medications. Azar, a former drug industry executive, said US patients will be able to import medications safely and effectively, with oversight from the Food and Drug Administration. The administration’s proposal would allow states, wholesalers, and pharmacists to get FDA approval to import certain medications that are also available here.

It’s unclear how soon consumers will see results. Most patients take affordable generic drugs to manage conditions such as high blood pressure or elevated blood sugars. But polls show concern about the prices of breakthrough medications for intractable illnesses like cancer or hepatitis C infection, whose costs can run to $100,000 or more. And long-available drugs like insulin have also seen price increases that have forced some people with diabetes to ration their own doses. “For too long American patients have been paying exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs that are made available to other countries at lower prices,” Azar said in a statement that credited President Trump for pushing the idea. The administration’s move comes as the industry is facing a crescendo of consumer complaints over prices, as well as legislation from both parties in Congress to rein in costs.

This is a great idea but like all great from Trump is it a lie,  a broken promise or will it make it to the reality of my life?

“Lego Ergo Scribo”